Pokémon: Feudal Red-Medieval Blue
by Oswald Bastable
Summary: Every wondered what the Pokémon world used to be like? How Pokémon trainers went about their adventures without PCs or bicycles? Surely there must have been a time when people lived in peaceful villages rather than big cities in the Pokémon world too! This story is the adventure of one boy from those times, a certain Satoshi from Pallet Town, and of his rival Shigeru.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is a strange little idea that came to my mind for a serial Pokémon story. I'm not sure if it's already been done; it probably has, and much better, considering the extent of the Pokémon Fandom, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. In short, this is a novelization of the story of the Pokémon Blue and Red games, as told if it had happened in the distant past. How distant, you ask? Why, the Middle Ages, of course! After all, the Pokémon world is relatively high-tech, but surely, there must have been a time when it wasn't! How did people interact with Pokémon before PC Boxes and Pokéballs? Haven't you ever wondered that? I know I have; there's some references to it in the games, but not nearly enough to satiate this writer's curiosity. The setting is vaguely feudal Japanese, but only inasmuch as the regular Pokémon setting is modern Japanese, so many liberties have and will be taken. So if you want to read about Pokémon in the days of the brave samurai knights and impregnable castles, in the Pokémon world, where dragons and so much more is real, this is the story for you! _

_The first chapter, of course, will be a bit more introduction than action, but so was everyone's first gaming session… _

_So fear not, brave reader! The shades of your journey await!_

**Chapter One:**

_**Shades of Time and Journeys**_

Time changes many things. With time, forests become cities, and plains become farms. With time, huts and castles turn to skyscrapers and shopping malls, and the once unchartered deep blue sea gets criss-crossed by boats and ships and ocean liners, while asphalt roads cut through what was used to be the deep unknown.

With time, summer becomes winter and boys become men.

Indeed, time changes everything.

Everything?

Well, not really everything! After all, fall still comes between summer and winter, and the cherry blossoms still grow in the spring. People still work with their Pokémon, their best friends and most fearsome allies, and ten-year-old boys and girls still go on adventures to become the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time, like they always have and, as far as we know, always will so long as the world is the world.

And Pallet Town is still surrounded on almost all sides by forest. The waves of the sea still crash on the beach to the south. And the small road to the north still leads to a bigger, wider, immense world, where shades of your journey still await.

Indeed, Pallet Town hasn't changed much at all: it's still a small agglomeration of houses. Of course, the houses aren't the same anymore: back in the day, they were short houses, built of wood atop a small foundation of packed earth so that they stood a bit above the ground (like, say, small fortresses), and their roofs were thatched or made of wood, and slightly curved in that distinctly oriental style so many houses have in Kanto. But the fields around them were still small but fertile, and the flowers were still pretty, and still smelled nice, though the people smelling them wore kimonos and had never seen a bicycle.

And at the entrance of the town to the north, there were still two houses opposite of each other; and in those houses there still lived, as now, two boys, who, on their tenth birthday, were about to set off on the greatest adventure of their lives:

In the house on the western side of the road that led north –which in those days was just a dirt path- Satoshi, the black-haired boy, wasn't, of course, playing the SNES, and neither was his mother watching "Stand By Me" on the television set, because they didn't have television or the SNES (or, indeed, even the regular NES) back in the day. And of course, there was no question of sleeping in either, really, what was the point of sleeping if the sun was up?

Instead, Satoshi and his mother sat kneeling on the tatami mats around their short table, eating their breakfast of steamed rice and miso soup out of small bowls. But today was a special day, and the mood was particularly grave.

Satoshi looked a bit different than the modern hero we know, without any sort of hat and with his hair much longer, now caught in bushy pony tail behind his head. He wore not jeans and a t-shirt but a black boy's kimono. Still, the thirst for adventure in his eyes was as unmistakable in a boy's eyes then as it is now.

His mother looked upon young Satoshi:

"So," she said, with a sort of melancholy smile of mixed pride and sadness "Today is the day."

Satoshi looked up from his plate, and smiled back at her; boys were far more reserved back then. Everyone was, really.

"Don't be scared, mother," he answered "I'm sure I'll be safe." He paused a bit before continuing:

"Master Oak has promised he'd give me a strong Pokémon to protect me on my journey… he even said he'd let me choose before his grandson!"

His mother smiled, and touched his hand; she'd known this, of course, but it was comforting to hear it again. Master Oak was a wise man, and trustworthy; he wouldn't let her son go out and get himself killed!

There were two Pokémon trainers in Pallet Town back then. Even to this day, of course, in Kanto Pokémon training remains hugely widespread, and back then too most everyone kept at least a few Pokémon: but in those days, before technology, in every city, aside from things like farming for food, training Pokémon to help a human community and protect it against outside threats was one of the most vital activities there was. Pokémon helped in everyday activities all the time, whether it was a Poliwag watering the fields or a Charmeleon protecting the city from bandits. The symbiosis between humans and Pokémon was even more important back then than it is now, and accomplished professional Pokémon trainers, Pokémon Masters -this was where the term originated, and this was what it meant back in the day-, were held in very high regard.

It so happened, then, that one of Pallet Town's Pokémon Masters was the aforementioned Master Oak. He was a wise man, and very learned, and aside from using his Pokémon to help the town, he deeply loved them and studied them. He'd had no sons, however, and so when the time came, his job in protecting the city would pass to his grandson, Shigeru.

Shigeru, for that matter, was the boy that lived on the house on the Eastern side of the road, and he and Satoshi had always been (and still were) best friends. You kind of have to be best friends with the one boy that's the same age as you when you live in such a small town, but aside from that these two also genuinely got along.

Besides, they had similar interests; after all, the only other professional Pokémon trainer in town was Satoshi's father.

But his story was a difficult one, and Satoshi did not speak much of him, so neither shall we; at least not now. But we shall say that his place was to be taken by Satoshi.

And today, as the reader might have guessed, was the day when both Satoshi and Master Oak's grandson, Shigeru, were getting their first Pokémon, and when they would depart to their quest to become Pokémon Masters, fit to serve their small community like their fathers and grandfathers before them. This was why Satoshi's mother was so emotional.

As he finished his breakfast of steamed rice, the boy laid his bowl back on the table and got up. He looked at the ground. He was excited, but there was also something of a knot in his stomach.

"I think it's time," he said, with a sigh "We… we shouldn't keep Master Oak waiting…"

His mother nodded:

"He's doing us a great favor. Be at your best."

Satoshi then gave her a curt bow and he was off. And his mother had to use all her strength to stifle a tear before her son was out the front door. She thought of his father, and it was almost too much to bear… Not to mention that, if a ten year old wandering into the wild is dangerous now, you can imagine how dangerous, no matter how good Master Oak's intentions were, it would be back then.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

_**Dragon Red and Turtle Blue**_

Satoshi, as we saw in the previous chapter, had been in a rather serious mood. However, the moment he got out the front door of his house, the fresh air and the sun brought him back to his senses. It was morning, it was a bright, sunny day, and he wasn't supposed to be worried! He wasn't supposed to be scared! He was supposed to be excited… he was going to become a Pokémon Master!

And so, changing moods quite quickly, as children are wont to do, and filled to the brim with excitement, Satoshi ran to Master Oak's house, to get his first Pokémon.

It didn't take long for the boy to get there: it was only a stone's throw away from his home, like everything in the town, and this even though his and Shigeru's houses were a bit off to the north, whereas everything else in Pallet Town –including Master Oak's home- were centered a bit to the south, near the beach, around a large open space on which stood a Shinto shrine that marked the middle of the city.

Master Oak's house in particular was built on high ground. It was a large wooden structure, in fact, the largest in the town, even though the house proper was only a fraction of the building; and the smaller one at that: upon entering through the _genkan_, or entrance hall, Satoshi immediately exited again into the large inner courtyard where Master Oak kept his Pokémon. It was a nice little patio, all covered with green grass decorated with a stone path and a zen fountain in the center. At the moment, drinking from the fountain was Master Oak's large, majestic Tauros, who raised its head upon Satoshi's entrance, as did the frightening but incomparably regal Arcanine who was sleeping in a corner and woke up on the child's entrance. None of the Pokémon got too excited, though: they were fearsome and extremely powerful beasts, but they knew the boy already.

Having known his whole life that he wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, and having been very excited about it at that, Satoshi had already spent many hours here, studying Pokémon as best he could with Master Oak and with his best friend Shigeru.

But this time it was different! This time, he was actually going to get a Pokémon!

Shigeru, by the way, was at that very moment standing at the far end of the courtyard with Master Oak; indeed, the spikey auburn-haired boy immediately noticed Satoshi, and looked up at him with much more excitement than the Pokémon, already geared up for travel in his blue kimono, and carrying a pack and a walking stick; he was clearly at least as anxious to get started on his Pokémon journey as Satoshi:

"Come on, Satoshi!" he said "I've been waiting for you all morning!"

Master Oak looked up also looked up, but he seemed far more conciliatory in tone:

"Now, now, Shigeru," he told his grandson "Don't exaggerate… Satoshi come here."

In response Satoshi gave a small bow before rushing through the courtyard as Master Oak's Arcanine followed him with lazy eyes –yes, it was an almost mythical creature, but even those get lazy sometimes:

"Hey, Shigeru," said Satoshi, smiling as he came to where the other boy and the man were. Then, with a bit more respect, Satoshi turned to Master Oak "Hello, Master Oak… Sorry I'm late!"

"Not at all," said Master Oak, politely "This is a big day… you have to take your time to get ready.

The man was old, but not decrepit. His purple kimono, over which he wore a white _haori_, or half-coat, was worn with all the dignity of age and none of its feebleness, and his white hair held more wisdom than weakness.

Master Oak was also being very calm and polite, much unlike his grandson:

"Come on, Satoshi!" Shigeru interrupted "I want to get my Pokémon!"

Satoshi grinned. He knew there wasn't any ill-will in his friend's excitement, at least not yet. Heck, Satoshi could understand the other boy… he was pretty excited himself, after all. Master Oak smiled at the pair. One would scarcely have been able, seeing them like that, to guess what adventures the two were going to live through.

"Be patient, Shigeru," Master Oak said "Now boys… take a look here.."

And with that, the man directed their attention to the small bamboo table. Upon it there lay three small, round objects, seemingly crafted from wood, or at least from some similar substance. They were rather queer little things, spherical in shape, and each one of two colors, white and green; but Satoshi got excited almost immediately… he, of course, knew exactly what they were:

"Boys," asked Master Oak, a bit smugly, as he knew what the reaction would be "Can any of you tell me what these are?"

The boys, of course, could; he'd taught them, after all, in the long hours they'd spent studying together. This wasn't the first time they were here! And so the two kids answered together excitedly, almost forgetting the respect due to their elder, though one had to admit that for an "elder", Master Oak was rather easy-going:

"Apricorns!" Shigeru and Satoshi shouted in unison.

Master Oak nodded approvingly: it was, of course, correct: back in those days, as the reader might know, there were no Pokéballs, or, at least, those that did exist were painstakingly fashioned from Apricorns, the small, woody fruit of certain trees; Apricorns much like the ones on the table in front of the boys. Making these balls was a long and arduous process, known only to certain very expert masters, and, even though it was much more widespread back then than it is today –where it is only still done in the Johto Region- Pokéballs in those days were a still luxury, much moreso than they are now.

Master Oak continued his little lecture:

"That's right," the man said "These are Apricorn Balls. And each of them contains one Pokémon. Today is an important day for you, boys, and I have gathered here the three Pokémon which I believe will be the best companions for two young, learning boys such as yourselves to start their journeys."

The two boys looked at the balls in in awe: they'd seen Apricorns before, but only very rarely… And certainly these had never been Apricorns containing Pokémon that they were going to own! Master Oak turned to Satoshi:

"Satoshi," he said "Let it not be said that our family favours its own over its friends! You may choose first."

He then proceeded to show him the Apricorns one by one:

"This Apricorn," he said "Contains the Seed Pokémon, Bulbasaur, a grass Pokémon; this one contains Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon, a water type; and this last one contains Charmander, a fire type. But of course, both of you boys already knew what types of Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander were, didn't you?"

The boys nodded together. They'd known they were going to be Pokémon trainers someday, and in the meantime they'd learned everything about Pokémon they could possibly find out. And so they knew what all these Pokémon were. But, to be frank, they'd never expected to actually get one of them so quickly… Satoshi had personally thought that Master Oak would capture him a Rattata or something… But to be offered to choose between a Squirtle, a Bulbasaur, and a Charmander?! These were rare… and awesome… not to mention that the beasts they evolved into…

Shigeru was just as excited; his grandfather hadn't revealed anything to him beforehand, no matter how much the boy had begged, and he was only learning this now, so that he was almost at the same level as Satoshi.

But Satoshi… Satoshi could barely contain himself. At this point, of course, like any ten year old, he wasn't even thinking of a Squirtle or a Bulbasaur anymore, but was already imagining the terrifying Blastoise and Venasaur he would wield when he'd trained them. But of course, while owning any of those seemed to him awesome, they paled before the idea of what the final evolution of the third Pokemon was: a Charizard! A firebreathing lizard! A true-blue personal dragon! That… that in Satoshi's mind beat anything. And so, the boy blurted out excitedly:

"Charmander! I want Charmander!"

And so Satoshi took the Apricorn Ball on his right, the one with the Charmander in it, and his hands were almost trembling with excitement. He looked to Shigeru, almost as if showing off, almost as if saying:

_"I got a Charmander!" _

But Shigeru seemed surprisingly unfazed; in fact, he had nothing but a calm smile on his face:

"Fine," the other boy said, grinning right back at his friend "I'll take this one, then…"

And he picked up another Apricorn. And, of course, it was the one containing the water Pokémon, Squirtle.

"Water puts out fire!" said Shigeru, rather smugly.

"Now, now, boys," said Master Oak, chuckling "Calm down!"

But, of course, there was no chance of this happening:

"Oh yeah?" Satoshi replied to Shigeru"Well… I bet I can still beat you!"

"Yeah, right!" said Shigeru.

"Wanna try?" said Satoshi.

"What, do you think I'm scared?" said Shigeru. Then, he turned to his grandfather:

"Grandfather, can we fight?"

Master Oak grinned:

"You two are Pokemon Trainers now," he said "I'd be silly _not_ to let you fight…"

"Alright!" said Shigeru, turning back to Satoshi, and preparing to release his Pokemon "It's on then… Squirtle, go!"


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: The song towards the end of the chapter is sung to a very specific tune. While I did modify some of his lyrics to fit the situation, all credit for adding them in the first place goes to the youtube user "Wizardicuz". As for the original melody… I'll leave it to the readers to guess what it is. Kudos to whoever finds it!_

**Chapter Three:**

_**Let's Go! A World of Dreams and Adventures Awaits!**_

We won't go into the specifics of the battle between Satoshi and Shigeru. After all, it wasn't that epic a battle even if you saw it, and it would be even less epic to read about it: it was low-level Charmander scratching at a low level Squirtle as the Squirtle tried to tackle it.

But as the reader will know, even if you've heard about Pokémon Battles before, and even if, like Satoshi and Shigeru had, you've actually seen them, your very first battle with your very first Pokémon is something extraordinary. And Satoshi was filled with wonder as he saw his Charmander, his very own fire lizard, materialize alert and battle-ready from his Apricorn Ball in front of him, just as his friend had been when he saw his Pokémon. And when Satoshi and Shigeru saw those scratches and tackles, they seemed to them like the legendary flamethrowers and hydro pump attacks they'd heard the really great Masters had their Pokémon use.

And when Shigeru ordered his Squirtle to perform a tail-whip attack on Charmander to throw off its balance and weaken it to his attacks, it seemed to him like a stroke of genius, just as Satoshi felt like a great mastermind when he negated Squirtle's advantage by having his Charmander pull off a ferocious growl.

Eventually, though, Shigeru won anyway; and with one last tackle Charmander fell to the ground.

Satoshi, alarmed, then immediately rushed to his Pokémon's side:

"Master Oak!" the boy asked, rather distraught "Master Oak, is he okay?"

Satoshi held the Pokemon; it felt strangely warm…then again, it was a Charmander, so that made sense.

"He'll be fine," Master Oak reassured the boy "Pokémon faint far more easily than humans do, and they recover much more easily as well… it's a defense mechanism they developed to fight each other in the wild, so that battles could end without one of the two opponents dying or being badly injured. All Charmander needs to get well is some rest in his Apricorn Ball."

Satoshi knew this, of course. He'd seen quite a few Pokémon battles too, and knew that, except on very specific occasions, most Pokémon were fine afterwards.

Still, Charmander looked quite beat up… and much to his surprise, Satoshi was already beginning to realize he cared for the little creature.

Charmander, for his part, was in the meantime also going through his own little phase –it _was_ "he". The Fire-Type Pokémon looked up at the boy. Caught up as he had been, no pun intended, in the heat of the battle with Squirtle, the Pokémon hadn't given much thought or attention to which trainer was directing his moves. Besides, Charmander was only just getting used to having a trainer anyway: he had only very recently come into Master Oak's possession. But now that he was weak and fainting, but also a lot calmer, Charmander realized that the voice of the person holding him came from a person much younger than Master Oak.

It wasn't entirely unpleasant to the Pokémon to be held like that. He… he could get used to it.

"Ch… char?" the little lizard said weakly as he tried to make out the features of who he was only now coming to realize would be his new owner.

"Don't worry," said Satoshi, with a determination only a ten-year-old boy could pull off in such a decidedly non-dramatic situation "You'll be fine."

The lizard then fainted, and Satoshi called him back to his Apricorn Ball, where Charmander returned to rest:

Shigeru, meanwhile, was ecstatic at his own victory.

"Good job, Squirtle!" he said, patting it on the head "Come on, Satoshi," he then yelled at his friend "Don't be such a sore looser!"

Satoshi sulked a bit. He was still somewhat distraught at having lost, though he understood Shigeru had won fair and square."

"Satoshi, Shigeru, shake hands," Master Oak said sternly, as if to avoid further dissent between the two. Satoshi got up, and grudgingly did as he was told.

It had been a good battle, after all.

"You two boys know what to do if your Pokémon get seriously hurt, though, right?" Master Oak then quizzed them, quite suddenly:

The two boys hadn't been expecting this, but they had been well-drilled, and they knew the answer: Master Oak frequently drilled them on basic knowledge like this. And, like any other time when they knew the answer, the boys nodded as they answered in unison; this bit of information in particular was one of the very first thing an apprentice Pokémon trainer learned in those days, after all, so they knew it well.

"Cheri Berry for Paralysis," the boys began "Chesto Berry to wake them up, Pecha Berry for Poison…"

"Rawst Berry for Burn, Aspear Berry for Freeze, and Leppa and Oran berries at least once a day to keep them strong, especially after battles," Master Oak completed, satisfied and quite sure that the boys knew the whole thing.

It was a crucial piece of knowledge, after all: in the days before Pokémon Centers, which is when this story takes place, while there were many potions and methods for curing Pokémon, and while some trainers specialized in other methods –and, of course, while rest and good food always played paramount roles- , most curing was done with berries, and all trainers had to be familiar with them, or at least with the important types of berries, unless they wanted their Pokémon to be perpetually asleep or something:

On the plus side, though, there were a lot more berries back then than there are now, what with there being more wilderness around and whatnot, so you could find them pretty much everywhere on your Pokémon journey; but it was still a demanding obligation for a starting trainer.

When Master Oak finished his little brush-up, a grin appeared on Satoshi's face, and he turned to Shigeru:

"You'd better pack a lot of berries," he said "Because I'll win next time!"

Shigeru then burst into laughter:

"Yeah, right!" said the spikey-haired boy, and in a minute the two of them were laughing together and exchanging taunts about how great they would both be, and Master Oak smiled. Everything was alright again: their friendship was not to be broken apart by something as simple as a battle!

After this, Shigeru, who was already beginning to take a liking to his Squirtle as well, called it back into its Apricorn Ball, and the two boys then went by Satoshi's house to get his things –Shigeru, as the alert reader will remember, already had everything he needed on him. Then, pair was escorted to the exit of the town by most of the townsfolk –after all, it was quite an event that two boys in such a small town should be leaving on an adventure together!- and they said their goodbyes and left.

And with that, Satoshi and Shigeru were off to the north. And as they went on, slowly, the cultivated fields of Pallet Town and its farms and dirt paths turned into untamed wilderness, and the wide road was now flanked not by houses, but by trees and tall grass. And as the boys crossed the town's borders onto the route to Viridian City –the first town they would be visiting, where they would hopefully learn something from its Pokémon Master and after winning a battle receive the local badge (there were badges in those days too)-, and as the boys continued on the road, going ever forward, Pallet Town grew smaller and smaller in the distance behind them, and the great unknown they were going into, the great adventure they were starting on, became larger and larger, so much larger than two ten-year-olds could even fathom.

But the boys didn't care! The sun was shining bright, and they had their two Pokémon, and they had each other, best of friends that they were, and all in all, they were going to be alright:

Plus, there was music! The boys, as they marched on, sang a song which they had once heard, and which seemed particularly well-suited to this road. It went something like this:

"_Off adventuring, off adventuring, off adventuring I go!_

_Off adventuring, off adventuring, to see all that I don't I know!_

_Off adventuring, off adventuring, that is where I want to be!_

_Off adventuring, I will catch them all, and then they'll all know me!"_

The song referred to catching Pokémon, of course, and it went on after this, but we won't write the whole thing down. But, between this and that, on the whole, we can say that the boys were having a blast, as if they had been leaving for the greatest camping trip of their lives.

What Satoshi and Shigeru did not know, however, was that, as they marched merrily on their way to adventure and beyond, to seek their dreams and make them come true in this strange, fairy-tale world of Pokémon, as, we say, they did all of this, Satoshi and Shigeru did not know there was someone watching them:

In the distance behind the two boys, carefully hidden so that they could see the boys but the two boys couldn't see them, a looming set of figures in black clothing and heavy, face-concealing, hooded cloaks looked at them go forth with more-than-obvious malice:

"New trainers, I presume?" said one of the figures.

"An easy catch…" the second one replied "It's almost a pity!"

"They should've been more careful," a third, shorter one chimed in.

And then, they all laughed in unison. And sure enough, it wouldn't be long before these three mysterious strangers would teach the two boys that adventuring was far more dangerous than little boys imagined it to be; that Pokémon journeys weren't just camping trips, and that the great big world of Pokémon is not only filled with dreams and adventures, nor is it inhabited exclusively by nice people.


End file.
